The Department of Defense (DoD) announced today that it secured $500 million for the first tranche of capabilities in its ‘Replicator’ initiative.
The Replicator initiative – which was announced in August 2023 by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks and is overseen by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) – aims to field thousands of innovative systems across multiple domains and into the hands of warfighters within the next 18 to 24 months, as part of the Pentagon’s strategy to counter China’s rapid armed forces buildup.
According to the DoD, of the $500 million, about $300 million comes from the fiscal year (FY) 2024 defense appropriations bill supporting the department’s reprogramming request, and additional funds come from other existing authorities and department-wide sources.
In its FY25 budget request, the department requested roughly the same amount as the FY24 total.
“These investments bring together the capabilities of a broad range of traditional and nontraditional technology companies, including systems vendors, component manufacturers, and software developers,” the department said.
The first tranche of Replicator capabilities includes uncrewed surface vehicles, uncrewed aerial systems, and counter-uncrewed aerial systems of various sizes and payloads from several traditional and non-traditional vendors.
“Meeting the strategic imperatives facing the nation requires that we harness the very best of America’s commercial technology in non-traditional partners, alongside our traditional sources of defense capabilities,” said DIU Director, Doug Beck.
Pentagon officials have been tight-lipped about certain aspects of Replicator, including which specific systems are being selected to meet capability needs.
The DoD provided a little more information about some of the systems included in the first set of Replicator capabilities in this latest announcement.
For the air domain, the DoD will accelerate fielding of the Switchblade-600 loitering munition, which has “demonstrated its utility in Ukraine, and … will provide additional capability to U.S. forces.”
In the maritime domain, the department is diversifying the vendor base for uncrewed surface vehicles through a new acquisition program, the Production-Ready, Inexpensive, Maritime Expeditionary (PRIME) Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO), which allows U.S. and international companies to pitch technologies to the department in a fast-tracked process for a prototype contract.
Since its launch earlier this year, PRIME CSO received over one hundred applications from commercial technology companies and, according to the DoD, the DoD is on track to award several contracts this summer with the FY2024 funding.
However, the first tranche of Replicator capabilities includes ones that remain classified, including others in the maritime domain and some in the counter-uncrewed aerial systems portfolio.
“This is just the beginning,” said Adm. Christopher Grady, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Replicator is helping us jumpstart the delivery of critical capabilities at scale. We will build on that momentum with industry partners to deliver what the warfighter needs and remove barriers to doing so again and again.”
The department is preparing the next tranche of capabilities to add to its all-domain attritable autonomous portfolio.
